So, when people in non-rhotic places learn the letters...how does that go?
teacher-the next letter is Q...pronounced "que", we don't use it very much, can anyone think of a word that has a Q in it?
kid-Quincy!
teacher-very good, the next letter is R, pronounced "aaa"....
Listen to JFK - non-rhotic speakers don’t quite say card as cod. Generally, it’s what I call a very weak R - “The greater ahr knowledge increases, the more ahr ignorance is known.” I have met three or four others in the South who are young and non-rhotic, and thus far our universal experience is that it is treated by a speech therapist and seen as a speech impediment. (Although one said it gave him a more distinguishable and distinguished voice.)